Introduction
Prussia was a region which before 1772 consisted of what was later known as East Prussia
(Ostpreussen) with capital of Königsberg, a duchy since 1525, a kingdom of the
Hohenzollern dynasty since 1701 and West Prussia (Westpreussen) with the Hanseatic cities
of Danzig, Elbing, Thorn, and Culm, part of Poland referred to as Polish Prussia before
1772.

The concept of Kreis was different in pre-1806 Prussia and referred to the
districts of the noble families ("Die Adeligen Kreise") as well as the
Immediatstädte and royal Domainen-Aemter. The term "Regierung" referred to the
judicial (court) system before 1806 and to the district administration after 1815. This is
important to understand, if researchers want to judge the relevance of records in the
Berlin and Polish archives.

Between 1824-1878 there was one Province of Prussia which later was divided into two
provinces with capitals in Königsberg and Danzig. In 1900 there were the following
districts and Kreise (counties):
(* marks a Kreis in the Catholivc episcopy of Ermland (Varmia) which area was annexed from
Poland in 1772)

Regierungsbezirk (district) of Gumbinnen with 16 Kreise
(counties):
Angerburg, Darkehmen, Goldap, Gumbinnen, *Heydekrug, Insterburg, Johannisburg, Loetzen,
Lyck, Niederung, Oletzko (Treuburg), Pillkallen, Ragnit, Sensburg, Stallupoenen, Tilsit.
[This district was also called Preussisch-Litauen (Lithuania). It was here that the
Austrian Salzburger refugees were settled in 1732 after the plague of 1708.]

Each Kreis was headed by the Landrat who presided over the Landratsamt. The Landratsamt
records are deposited in Berlin and the Polish archives with published brief inventories.
Gazetteers for all villages and towns were published by Verein für Familienforschung in
Ost- und Westpreussen in Hamburg in its Sonderschriften reprints Nr. 43 (Königsberg,
1820), Nr. 48 (Gumbinnen, 1818). Note: East and West Prussia were united as one Province
of Prussia during 1824-18

Religious Divisions
The majority in 1890 was Evangelical (83.5%); the Catholics (12.8%) were concentrated in
the four Kreise of Ermland (Allenstein, Braunsberg, Heilsberg and Roessel).

Court Districts
Before 1900, the highest provincial court was the Oberlandesgericht in Königsberg. The
lower courts were

HistoryIn 1772 King Friedrich II annexed western Prussia (Westpreussen), without the Danzig
territory, from the Kingdom of Poland, and united it with the duchy of Prussia (it now
taking the name East Prussia). In 1793, King Friedrich Wilhelm II annexed the areas around
Danzig and Thorn. In 1793 and 1795, larger areas of Poland were added, which were
organized into the Provinces of South Prussia and New East Prussia. Like many countries in
Eastern Europe at that time, the old Polish Kingdom was inhabited by many ethnic groups,
and it is important not to confuse political loyalties with ethnic identities. Many loyal
Polish subjects were not ethnically Polish. Western Prussia, including Danzig, had had a
ethnic German majority for centuries, while a sizable German minority lived in the Thorn
area. Other important ethnic groups, besides Poles, were Jews, Kaschubians and Masurians.
Some locals even descended from hardy Scotsmen, who had fled to Danzig in the 16th
century, and founded the suburb of Neuschottland (New Scotland).

The kingdom of Prussia
at this time was not part of Germany. Königsberg was the capital and coronation city of
the Prussian kings. Terms like the German army have no meaning for this time period.

Before 1806 Germany was one kingdom and empire with one Kaiser and one king who resided
in Wien (Vienna). He was elected by the collegium of Kurfürsten (electors) who in 1800
were the 3 archbishops of Koeln (Cologne), Mainz and Trier and the 4 secular electors of
Rheinland-Pfalz, Brandenburg, Sachsen (Saxony), and Boehmen (Bohemia).

The electors of Brandenburg and Sachsen had also ambitions to acquire the title of
king. Since they could not acquire this title inside Germany they succeeded outside
Germany: Brandenburg by declaring themselves "King in Prussia" at Königsberg in
1701, Sachsen by getting elected as King of Poland in 1697. The Kaiser in Wien was
powerless to prevent this ploy.

The Prussian kings were as follows:

Kurfürst (Elector) Friedrich III was crowned first king Friedrich I in Königsberg in
1701, died 1712, his son was
King Friedrich Wilhelm I, 1712-1740, intolerant, his son was
King Friedrich II the Great (Old Fritz), 1740-1786, his nephew was
King Friedrich Wilhelm II, 1786-1797, intolerant, his son was
King Friedrich Wilhelm III, 1797-1840, his son was
King Friedrich Wilhelm IV, 1840-1861, his brother was
King Wilhelm I, 1861-1888, became Kaiser 1871, his son was
Kaiser and King Friedrich III, 1888 (99 days), his son was
Kaiser and King Wilhelm II, 1888-1918.

In 1806 Napoleon Bonaparte conquered Europe and abolished the German empire and the
title of Kaiser for Germany (capital: Wien [Vienna]). The Kaiser in Wien became Kaiser of
Austria with no power in the rest of Germany. The titles of Kurfürst (elector) became
meaningless and was abolished and changed to Kings of Bohemia, Prussia, Saxony, Bavaria,
Wuerttemberg, and Hannover by Napoleon's grace. The archbishops and Catholic church had
lost all their secular power in 1803.

After Napoleon's final defeat in 1815 the kingdom of Prussia became known as "Die
Vereinigten Preussischen Staaten" (United Prussian States) which now also included
provinces like Schlesien/Silesia, Brandenburg, Pommern/Pomerania and areas as far west as
the Rhine province. Berlin now became the Prussian capital. Until 1806 the Hohenzollern
sovereign had many titles and hats from Head of the Evangelic Church to King, Elector,
Grandduke, Duke for the various regions and realms under his rule. After 1806 he simply
was King of Prussia. Terms like German government or German army have no meaning for this
time period until 1871.

In 1871 Germany as an empire with a Kaiser was re-established with Berlin as the
capital of Germany and Prussia and with the Prussian king also having the title of German
Kaiser. All monarchies in Germany were abolished in 1918 and Prussia was declared defunct
in 1945 by the Allied victors. The original (East and West) Prussia was cleansed of its
ethnic German population and given to Poland and Russia. The Western powers were silent on
the ethnic cleansing of original Prussia and Eastern Germany resulting in 12 millions of
German refugees.

Church RecordsThe Lutheran church kept official records from 1815-1874.

Civil Registration RecordsCivil registers of births, marriages, deaths were introduced in October of 1874. The
Civil registry office is called Standesamt. Before this time, the Lutheran church records
(1815-1874) or special Dissidenten-Register (1847-1874) served as official registers, and
a duplicate copy was deposited at the local court (Amtsgericht). Many of the Standesamt
civil registers have survived in the Southern part of Ostpreussen (East Prussia) which was
annexed by Poland in 1945. The story is quite different in the Northern part of
Ostpreussen annexed by the Soviet Union in 1945 as the Kaliningrad Oblastj. The Red Army
followed a deliberate course of annihilation and looting. Records had no priority for
saving, art treasures and books were destroyed or taken to Russia. The burned-out Royal
castle in Königsberg was levelled as late as the Brezhnev era. In 1997, the Russian
parliament, the Duma, voted against returning German records and artifacts, overriding a
veto by Russian President Yeltsin.

Other Records

Census

Citizenship

Education [Hochschulen]

Emigration and Immigration

Land
The whereabouts of the records for the Landgerichte is unknown. Some records of the
Amtsgerichte are deposited at the Olsztyn archives today. Of special interest are the land
deed records (Grund- und Hypotheken-Acta) with no published survey known.

There are 3
types of records compiled periodically for the period of reign of Friedrich II who ruled
1740-1786:

Prästations-Tabellen (PT) are land tax lists since about 1723 for East Prussia and
repeated about every 6 years until about 1806 and continued from about 1819 to about 1850.
They would list land owners only.

Mahl-Listen or Mühlen Consignationen list all heads of family by name and number of
women, sons, daughters, male and female servants. They indicate that everyone of age 12-60
was taxed by head for eating and milling grain, poor or rich alike. They were abolished in
1806 by the Stein-Hardenberg reforms.

The courts introduced new deed record keeping for Prussia in 1783. Especially the
Hypotheken-Acta often give information on family affairs like mortgage beneficiaries,
orphans, new marriages, heirs in details not found anywhere else. They often do not only
reflect families with assets, but also paupers as heirs and beneficiaries. Often copies of
old documents and wills are attached.

Last update: 04-Nov-01 (hjw)
Rainer Herrmann created the original version of this page. Continued in co-operation by Albert Lipskey starting 16-Dec-01 (b).
Adalbert Goertz has contributed historical, district, records and other information to
this page.